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September 4, 2006
God's own country
"America. It is God's own country."
I didn't say it, and was a little started to hear this from a young African man sitting next to me on the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou yesterday, after I told him that I'm American.
"It is the place of my dreams. My dream is to visit America, because I am a Christian."
He was one of the many African traders here in southern China, buying textiles to take back to Ghana. He had watched CNN about Hurricane Katrina and didn't seem to have grasped the poverty and racial divide that showed, and that was discussed in many news reports. What he remembered was a policeman, "Rescuing people but, you know, he was weeping because he did not know if his own family was alive or dead." My new friend touched his heart.
"Please give my greetings to your people," he said in farewell.
Posted by Karen Christensen at September 4, 2006 8:57 PM